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Tuesday, January 23, 2018

When people ask us what the medicinal benefits of Lion’s Mane (aka Monkey Head, Pom Pom, Hericium erinaceus) are, we typically respond, “It helps improve memory function and promotes nerve regeneration.” While true, there is more to be said about this charming character. The Chinese more commonly use this mushroom to aid in digestion and alleviate gastric ulcers. It is also filled with beneficial polysaccharides and polypeptides. These big words simply translate into “medicine” that can boost the immune system and help with the fight against certain cancers including some stomach, esophagus, and skin varieties. Who knew that such an adorable fungus could secretly be a superhero.

What's not to love about this photo?

I have consumed mushrooms in many forms. The most common is straight consumption of both cooked and raw mushrooms (remember bacteria and parasites often take joy rides on mushroom fruiting bodies, so eat raw mushrooms at your own risk). Working at a mushroom farm certainly gives me ample opportunity to eat a wide variety of these tasty treasures and Lion’s Mane is no different. Although I long for the rich buttery flavor of the wild Hericium, I have more access the sawdust block variety, which is also flavorful and enjoyable IF picked early. Be sure to cook Lion’s Mane on a low simmer or add it to a hearty soup or stew. This full bodied mushroom won’t leave you hungry.

The Lion's Mane mushroom. This one is pink in color due to high humidity conditions in the fruiting room.

I have also had my fair share of mushroom teas, but I find they are either to flavorless or too mushroomy (yep… I just said that). If I decide to sit down to a cup of my favorite mushrooms in a drink form I like to mix them with a few of my favorite herbal buddies. Any of the various mints, chamomile, or rooibos. A squeeze of lemon or a drop of wild orange essential oil never hurts. To each their own when it comes to jazzing up fungus water! I do try to keep it healthy and natural, we are after all trying to use it as a medicine. Honey is my sweetener of choice. Make sure mushroom teas are made using a relaxing simmer, as opposed to a violent boil, which can cause damage to the valuable medicinal components.

If you are interested in getting the full benefits and flavor of your mushroom, a real shock to the palate, try juicing them! The F&FP staff did this with Lion’s Mane, and it was... well... an experience I personally will never forget. Mary Ellen did the juicing. The mushrooms (25% of the weight) along with carrots, apples and kale were put into a juicer and voila! She served them to us in cute little cups (she tricked us is what she did), and cheers, we guzzled them down. While not the most enjoyable beverage, I can rest easy knowing that the medicine lurking within the mushrooms was served to me in full effect, no damage from the heat involved with some of the other processes.

A wonderful blend of juices, including Lion's Mane

My favorite way to consume medicinal mushrooms is in a concentrated tincture form. I prefer this because it doesn’t take much effort to add it to my everyday food or beverages, and I don’t usually notice it as an ingredient. Tincturing is a straightforward process. Basically mushrooms are suspended in alcohol where they sit for several weeks. Once that process is complete the alcohol is drained and the mushrooms are reused for a 6-8 minute low simmer in water. After straining out the mushrooms the water and alcohol are combined to create an almighty elixir. For more details on this process visit my previous post, Reishi Tincture: A Cure All.

I would love to see the Lion’s Mane continue to rise in popularity, so if you haven’t tried it out yet please consider! The health benefits alone sure have me convinced. Hold up your tiny glasses of juiced Lion’s Mane and let’s cheer to health!Check out the bonus Lion's Mane recipe below:Louisiana Style Vegetarian Gumbo with Lion's Mane,
Okra and Zucchiniby Mary Ellen KozakAfter years of cooking Lion's Mane, I have a short list of ways to capitalize on this mushroom's list of of culinary attributes. Lion's Mane is surely one of the more unusual of the cultivated mushrooms. It has a fairly distinct and strong flavor, chewy yet soft texture, and it seems unlikely that something with a hairy texture could be so invincible in the cooking pot. Lion's Mane prepared in this medium-slow cook method is mild flavored and pliable with a slight chew, feeling solid, like a bite of shrimp. Its soft texture is downright succulent in contrast to the soft and slippery okra. This is my first go at a gumbo, which I'm learning has many styles and versions. This one is vegetarian-lite, can be loaded with healthy Lion's Mane which makes for a fabulous lunch or a light weeknight supper and you'll feel remarkable healthy after eating it.

by Mary Ellen KozakAfter years of cooking Lion's Mane, I have a short list of ways to capitalize on this mushroom's list of of culinary attributes. Lion's Mane is surely one of the more unusual of the cultivated mushrooms. It has a fairly distinct and strong flavor, chewy yet soft texture, and it seems unlikely that something with a hairy texture could be so invincible in the cooking pot. Lion's Mane prepared in this medium-slow cook method is mild flavored and pliable with a slight chew, feeling solid, like a bite of shrimp. Its soft texture is downright succulent in contrast to the soft and slippery okra. This is my first go at a gumbo, which I'm learning has many styles and versions. This one is vegetarian-lite, can be loaded with healthy Lion's Mane which makes for a fabulous lunch or a light weeknight supper and you'll feel remarkable healthy after eating it.

Wednesday, November 22, 2017

This cobbler is worthy of any holiday table. There are several steps: caramelizing onions, sautéing the mushrooms, making a light béchamel, combining the cheese biscuit dough. If you are not familiar with the individual steps, they are well worth learning here as the steps can make any number of delicious mushroom-based dishes. This serves 9 with a big salad and some nice pickles, but 4 of us made a lunch of the test batch.

Start with the onions. By the time you’ve completed the other steps, the onions will be ready to incorporate.

Caramelize the onions: Heat the butter and oil in a large sauté pan and add the onions, sprinkling with salt. Lower the heat and sauté frequently while the onions soften and turn color. Within 45 minutes to an hour, the onions should be totally soft, dark gold and sweet. Adjust the salt and add a grind of pepper.

Saute the mushrooms: Meanwhile, heat the oil and butter for the mushrooms. Add the mushrooms and salt, reducing the heat after the mushrooms start to release liquid. Add the thyme and a dash of red pepper flakes or black pepper. Stir occasionally until mushrooms are soft and just a little liquid is left. Add the wine or broth, and sauté until a rich syrup remains. Adjust seasoning to taste.

Make the béchamel; Heat 1 T butter and add the 1 ½ T flour, cooking until bubbly. Add the 1 1/3 c. of warmed milk a little at a time, stirring after each addition to make smooth. Cook a few more minutes after the last addition until the mixture is the consistency of medium thick gravy.

Combine the mushrooms, the onions and béchamel and pour into a buttered casserole or gratin dish.

Make the biscuits: Cut the butter into the flour, salt, baking powder and soda. Stir in the grated cheese. Add the cold buttermilk and lightly combine. Drop evenly over the top of the filling; I use 1/3 c scoop which makes 9 biscuits over the top of a 9 inch square, 3 ½ inch deep gratin pan.

Wednesday, November 15, 2017

Last month a
feller/buncher showed up on our property to begin the harvest of our oak
woodlot. The plans made to cut the trees had been in the back of my mind for a over a decade, but was spurred on now by the introduction of Oak Wilt into the stand of the nearly century old Pin Oak trees. The Oak Wilt fungus travels along the wood vessels, tree top to roots and back, and moves from tree to tree via roots grafted (remember it's cousin, Dutch Elm Disease?), eventually infecting much of the stand. Pockets of trees are often dead within a growing season. So, the time is right to salvage what we can of the wood before infection and also release the suppressed pine, oak (and likely red maple and buckthorn) seedlings, eager for light on the forest floor. Plus, the cut will actually pay off this fall in
terms of abundant tops to harvest shiitake logs cut away from the
saw logs going to the sawmill. The timing of the harvest could not have been better.

This twist of fate, and happily somewhat good planning, has resulted in the trees being
felled at the optimum time for harvest. By now (November) we will be done considering raking
leaves and the lawn and garden equipment should stowed for the winter, plus the color change coincides perfectly with what we know of good timing to harvest logs for mushroom cultivation.

Pin Oak logs, many of them old friends, harvested before succumbing to Oak Wilt, as shown at the pocket of standing trees, left.

Planning your harvest to coincide with inoculating mushroom logs

Cutting in fall: The optimum time to cut mushroom wood in the fall is when the forest
canopy color has changed by one third. This indicates that the trees are
dormant and the stored carbohydrates in the sapwood are at their highest
levels. An added benefit to this is also that the cells have not completely hardened off
and if a fall inoculation is done, shiitake will be able to easily colonize
this wood.

If loggers are conscientious, oak tops are in great shape for cutting into shiitake logs.

Cutting in winter until spring bud swell: This is not to say that wood cannot be cut during the rest of the dormant season. We are not all such good planners ;^ and sometimes nature makes the plan for us (Hurricane Maria for example), while other
projects pop-up which take precedence over cutting shiitake logs. Still, while acceptable mushroom logs can be made from logs felled almost any time of the year, with a few important exceptions with soft hardwoods, the best mushroom logs should be cut while dormant to take advantage of all
those sugars stored for winter. In oak, the wood cells will become harder later in the dormant
season, say towards spring bud break, making colonization by the mushroom fungus just a little slower. This overall is not a hindrance to colonization of the wood by
shiitake, but evidence points to early dormancy (fall cut) to be superior, especially when paired with using heated and humidified indoor incubation methods in cold climates over the winter, or for outdoor incubation in the south.

Log storage and aging; judging how long wood can sit before inoculation

Let’s assume you can cut logs now but your schedule will
prevent you from inoculating until spring of the following year. The good news
is that the logs can be overwintered as long as they are protected from direct
sunlight and excessive wind. This allows you to take advantage of the benefits of fall cut dormant wood. When it is time to inoculate in the spring and you worry that the
logs might be too dry, the logs can be soaked in water for a day or so before they are
inoculated. The idea is to maintain 35-45% moisture content while making sure the wood cell "vitality" has declined. Over the years, we have heard rumors of a mysterious
antifungal compound that is found in freshly cut logs that will prevent and/or
kill shiitake spawn. This mysterious compound, in a round-about way, is water. Shiitake is a saprophytic fungus, i.e., it will not colonize living wood. So
for it to begin the decay cycle, the host cells must be dead. This is
accomplished by allowing the wood, after cutting, to go through a slight drying phase. Measuring this phase is difficult as this will
vary from location to location, by tree species and log diameter. In some regions of Japan where rainfall exceeds
60 inches/year, six to eight weeks drying is a normal. In drier climes, this time
would be considerably shorter. There is no hard and fast rule. We often hear
“two weeks max” and though this may be true under certain conditions (trees cut
during the growing season) and some very arid parts of the country, it
certainly isn’t a hard and fast rule for the eastern U.S. The best way is to watch your wood once cut, taking note especially of the condition of the log ends. Slight cracks radiating out from the center indicate a wood ready for inoculation; deeper cracks (wide enough to allow a dime in) indicate the log should be inoculated asap or soaked in water before inoculation.

Freshly cut limb wood from oak harvest. Note the fabulous sapwood.

If you do cut wood in the fall for storage until a spring inoculation, do keep the wood protected and covered if it is exposed to wind and sun. We store the logs in a large, dense (deadstacked) pile on the north and shaded east side of a building and cover the exposed parts. After you've collected the wood though, don't forget to bring in the rototiller :/

Good thing I wrote this post... so busy in the woods I nearly forgot about yard clean-up!

Thursday, November 2, 2017

My early memory of Miso Soup brings me to Madison, Wisconsin where I attended University. It was 1980, it was November, dark and cold. I have one very clear, happy memory though, and it was walking over unshoveled ice and snow into a little restaurant on my way home via State Street. It was a tiny place called "Living Waters", and all things on the menu were macrobiotic (aka the Pursuit of Hippiness). My sister who was in graduate school and following the Macrobiotic Diet at the time, would meet me there. So would my future husband, Joe, who proudly followed a different kind of "macro" diet. We would sit in the warm glow of the yellow painted walls on some wooden benches. The place was always empty but warm, and the food was welcoming and nourishing. The Miso Soup was hot and was served with a thick piece of sprouted wheat toast slathered in a corn oil concoction. Joe would disappear for a moment and return to our table with a greasy paper bag, out from which would slide a glistening gyro from the Greek place next door. With his back to the ordering counter he would feast, fingers glistening with cucumber sauce and meat fat. Hence was coined the secret code for the meeting place: "Troubled Waters". Whenever I think of Miso Soup I remember this time; the cold, the studying, but mostly those happy moments spent with a bowl of soup, family, and a few good laughs. Yin Yang. Double pleasure indeed.

Remembering Troubled Waters Miso Soup

Decades later, after eating Miso Soup in Japan and trying to make the authentic version here at home, I've settled on the simplest of all versions which is reminiscent of my first "Troubled Waters" bowl. It is made with a quick make-ahead vegetable broth and stored in the refrigerator. If you have on hand tubs of blanched or lightly steamed fresh vegetables, cubed tofu and a container of miso paste, you can make this soup in a few minutes. Having Nameko available to include in the soup is simply a gift. Only those who are fortunate enough to get Nameko really fresh can experience the pleasure of this very special addition.

If you've never had Miso Soup, the earthy taste of just miso can be unfamiliar with its almost yeasty tang. Hang on though, it is the addition of bright fresh vegetables and the other little nuggets of interest to the palate that are key to loving this soup. You can make this with whatever you have on hand or as the season dictates. Shiitake mushrooms are delightful in Miso Soup. Carrot strips, snow peas, Asian greens or spinach, nuggets of cooked, chewy short grain brown rice or clear glass noodles; all create a feeling of well-being and interest when a steaming bowl of this soup is presented to the lucky diner. Nameko mushrooms simmer for just a short time in the broth before serving so that the mushrooms maintain their glassy claret color and fruity taste. Best of all the texture is silky on the tongue, but crunchy between the teeth. The mushrooms are like little amber jewels bobbing in a rich translucent broth. You can even make this soup with a cup of hot water and one tablespoon of miso paste, and pour over your add-ins (warm them up first though). Just make sure you do not boil once you've added the miso paste. I find the miso-based broth is a little too strongly "miso," so I prefer to cut back the miso paste to 2 tsp. per cup and substitute the water with the flavorful broth, below.

Cold weather loving Nameko. Harvest early for use in Miso Soup!

Broth:1 bunch of scallions, chopped, use all parts1 chopped carrot1 4-inch piece of dried kombu (strip of kelp found in the Asian section at most large grocery stores)1/4 c soy sauce2 T mirin or rice wine 8 c cold water 1 tsp sugar and 1 tsp salt, to taste

Combine all ingredients, bring to a near boil and lower the heat for about 30 minutes. Adjust broth with more salt at the end of the cook time, but go lightly, as the miso you'll be adding is also salty. Strain and keep the broth refrigerated, about 1 week. Let the kombu dry out after you use it, as you can reuse it another time or two.

The Soup:Vegetables: prepare vegetables ahead; shredded carrot, torn greens, blanched filet beans; tiny cubes of cooked winter squash; whatever vegetable is in season and can be blanched or steamed to maintain color and crunch.

Miso paste: 2-3 tsp per cup of broth (many varieties available, start with the mild white miso if you are new to the flavor and go from there. Kept in the refrigerator, the paste will keep for a long time).

Protein add-ins: cubed tofu; either sauteed or baked until browned beforehand (or not), panko crumb coated fried shrimp, skewered and served across the top of the bowl is very special.

Nameko mushrooms, rinsed to get rid of any bits of bark or soil. Nameko harvested early in the fall after a cool spell can occasionally have some insect problems, especially if harvested when the caps are open. Parboiling these briefly and rinsing before adding to the soup will take care of the problem.

Assembly:Heat a cup of broth per serving, taking a few tablespoons from it as it heats to smooth out the miso paste. When the stock is hot, add as many Nameko mushrooms as you like at this time (just a few per cup of soup is usually enough, but add more if you have them)! Simmer for at least 5-10 minutes (be careful not to boil) to cook the mushrooms through. Add the miso paste/broth mixture, and simmer for another minute or so. Add 1/2 c vegetables and tofu per cup of broth. Serve.

Wednesday, October 4, 2017

It has been just over two weeks since I have returned home from another successful trip to Malawi. As the oyster mushroom specialist here at Field & Forest I have been given some wonderful opportunities thanks to CNFA (Cultivating New Frontiers in Agriculture) and the Farmer-to-Farmer Program funded by USAID. I also must note the support I have received from Joe and Mary Ellen here at F&FP! How often can one just take off of work to volunteer in Africa? I suppose this rarity is just one of the appeals of working for a mushroom spawn company run by two polish mushroomers with big hearts.

Julia is a long time mushrooms producer that I visited in a nearby village. She has been producing oyster mushrooms on a small scale for over 10 years.

For this most recent trip I was teaching a group of farmers that refers to themselves as the Naomi Mushroom Farmers in Mchinji, Malawi. I formally taught about 38 individuals, but also reached out to many others in nearby villages. This group was already producing oyster mushrooms, but needed to improve production. They were also interested in being introduced to button mushroom production. For this trip, however, the lesson in white buttons was brief. With no source of compost, and some intense heat around the corner we all agreed the focus should remain on oyster mushrooms.

Oyster mushroom bags hang in a traditional mushroom grow house. Contamination is obvious, but oyster mushrooms can still fruit with limits to yield.

Most of what I saw in Malawi at the various farms I visited were heavily contaminated oyster bags. Inadequate pasteurization combined with overly wet substrate contributes to a majority of the contamination. Other common mistakes included, waiting to put holes in the substrate bags (this allows for fermentation, and weakening of the mycelium), low humidity, and storage of healthy bags with contaminated bags. The great news is that these farmers were willing to make the appropriate changes needed to improve conditions.

While there we planted three different varieties of oyster mushroom: Pink, Pohu, and Grey Dove. All of these are favorites of mine for growing in Malawi due to their fast colonization, and aggressiveness. I worked with these farmers for just under two weeks. Pink was the first oyster we planted, and I am happy to say that when I arrived back into the United States I had received a text message with pictures of pinning pink oyster mushrooms! Seeing these pins brings me great joy. I just wish I had still been in Malawi to share the excitement with the farmers. Maybe next time :)

The fruits of our labor growing on maize stalks (straw is not available).

Exposure to swings in temperature and humidity during early
mushroom development creates interesting looking Wine Caps

More than any other time of the year, the spring season gives us the most unusual looking Wine Caps. Why it happens: Most of this variability in appearance is caused by spring's wild swings in temperature, low humidity and vigorous exposure to winds (and the fact that there's limited vegetation available to shield developing mushrooms). Later in the summer, cooling evenings bring high humidity and also a pretty dramatic reduction in wind speed, which affect humidity from the knee down - creating ideal conditions for cap development.

Wine Cap - with cap color as we'd expect it to be

When you know you've inoculated Wine Cap into wood chips or straw but are questioning the identity of the emerging mushrooms in your bed, check for other identifiable structures. The cap is usually the most variable. To better identify mushrooms that do not look as you'd expect, make sure to lift up the entire mushroom, including the stem attachment to the soil, by digging deep into the wood chips, straw or soil.

Dig into the wood chips to lift up the mushroom, stem and all, for proper identification

If you are new to Wine Cap cultivation in ALL its seasons, you may find the chart below to be helpful in confirming your harvest. If you ever have any questions about Wine Cap identification, please call us, or better yet, email us a photo, and we'll be glad to help you.

One of my favorite ways to prepare Wine Caps involves harvesting the buttons early (this is especially important if you are growing them in straw beds, as they tend to quickly attract mushroom flies). These little jewels can be sliced in half or quartered and lightly braised in a savory broth with fresh asparagus spears. Both the Wine Caps and asparagus are plate-ready, crunchy fresh and perfect for a tiny desk lunch. If you'd like, you may add other seasonings such as shallot, chili or cumin seeds for a stronger flavor to amplify the delicate flavors of the mushrooms and asparagus.

Braised Wine Cap and Asparagus

Ingredients:

6-8 (or more) small spears of asparagus

1 cup of Wine Cap buttons, sliced in half or quartered

1 tsp olive oil

pinch of salt

1/2 c chicken or vegetable broth, wine or oil

Trim the straw (or wood chips) off the mushrooms and rinse them

Half or quarter the Wine Caps and trim the asparagus

Add 1 tsp of oil to a heated saute pan. Add the mushrooms and let them get caramel brown, especially on the cut edges. Add the asparagus, 1/2 c broth and put the lid on, steaming the asparagus and mushrooms for about 5 minutes. Plate and enjoy. Serves 1-2.

Wednesday, May 3, 2017

Is Grain Spawn or Sawdust Spawn Better for Oyster Mushroom Production on Straw?
by Laura Kahles

From left to right: Italian, Golden and Pink Oyster mushroom growing on pasteurized straw.

I have been growing oyster mushrooms on straw for just over five years now. The opportunity to hand this task off onto other F&FP members has come up, but I just can't give it up. Why not, you might ask. My best guess...there is still so much to learn about this fascinating process. After five years, I still have unanswered questions, and more research to complete.

For anyone who is not familiar with the process, I will briefly explain. Chopped straw is pasteurized (cooked) in hot water to reduce the amount of contaminates it may contain (ie. molds, bacteria). After the straw drains and cools it is inoculated (planted) using oyster mushroom spawn (seed). After only a few short weeks beautiful oyster mushroom emerge, and can continue doing so for 2-3 months.

Here at F&FP our most popular type of spawn is called grain spawn. I use it when I can, but there are times when grain spawn becomes scarce here. The scarcity can happen for many different reasons including selling out, late grain delivery from our supplier, or equipment failures. When grain is in short supply I turn to the next best thing...sawdust spawn!

Which is better? I don't yet have a definitive answer to this question. As a professional I can see the good in both varieties. I can share with you what I do know at this point.

Grain spawn is easier to break up, and is easier to pour. A gentle massage of the bag will get the job done. If you have some pent up frustration I suggest you choose sawdust spawn. The oyster mycelium does a fine job of turning tiny sawdust particles into one solid brick that is easiest to break up with a firm fist. Do, however, be careful not to break the spawn bag.

Grain spawn breaks up easily, and adds extra nutrients.

Sawdust spawn has the advantage when it comes to spawn run time (time until full colonization). Grain particles are larger, and although they cover a larger surface area individually, there are not as many inoculation points as there are when sawdust is sprinkled throughout the straw. On average I have had mushroom pin formation two days earlier when using sawdust spawn.

Sawdust spawn is available in larger bags then grain, and it covers better allowing for more inoculation points.

Whether I use grain or sawdust I have gone to using a 5% inoculation rate. That is, 5% of the weight weight of the straw is the weight used in spawn. Bags of grain come in 4 lb. units and can plant about 4 sleeves (polyethylene 4 mil bags). Large bags of sawdust spawn come is 5.5 lb. bags and can plant 5 1/2 sleeves. If buying small quantities of spawn, sawdust ends up being the more economical choice. However, grain spawn requires buying a lesser amount of bags to receive our lowest price break. This makes grain spawn ideal for large scale commercial customers See the graphic below for our quantity discounting.

Now for the big question, which type of spawn produces more mushrooms? Remember earlier when I stated that I did not have all the answers...well, I don't have the answer to this just yet. I have seen some impressive numbers (in terms of yield) when using both grain spawn and sawdust spawn. On the opposite end of the spectrum, I have seen low yields from both types. Most of the time my diminished yields are due to other factors including (but not limited to) dirty straw, humidifier issues, or fungus gnats (there are many joys to mushroom farming).

My goals for the future are to do more comprehensive yield comparisons, and figure out which additives (if any) can help boost yield even further for sawdust and/or grain spawn. I will be sure to post results as soon as they are available. Stay tuned!

About Us

Welcome to the official blog of Field & Forest Products. For those of you who are unfamiliar with our company; we have been in the mushroom business for 34 years. As a mail-order business, we cultivate and sell organic mushrooms and mushroom spawn. Located in Northeastern Wisconsin, our small family owned business is constantly growing. This blog was created with the hope that people get to know not only the business, but also the people behind it.